Laptops they'll love
A well-designed, well-made notebook computer makes a delightful gift (and perhaps an item for your own wishlist?), offering shiny new tech that's both beautiful and highly practical. But it's not a present to be bought on a whim; you need to suit the laptop to the recipient's needs -- and to your own wallet. With that in mind, we're recommending both Mac and Windows laptops in a range of styles, sizes and prices to help you get the most bang for your buck.
Ultraslim, ultrasexy ultraportables
For the utmost in portability,a tablet(possibly paired with awireless keyboard for iOSorAndroid) is hard to beat. But while tablets are great for media consumption, they're not the best tools for getting real work done. Cheap, underpowered netbooks won't get you far, either.
That's where the MacBook Air and its Windows counterparts come in. These sleek, stylish machines are less than an inch thick and weigh about 3 lb. or less, while offering comfortable keyboards and crisp displays. And with up-to-date processors and healthy amounts of RAM, they're powerful enough to do whatever you need them to on the road -- though they're not quite as fast as many full-sized machines.
Other tradeoffs come with a slim profile, including the lack of an optical drive, a non-removable battery, a skimpy array of ports and connectors, and integrated graphics, which may not be able to keep up with intense games or multimedia as well as a dedicated graphics system. And while their solid-state flash storage is mostly a plus -- it gives ultraportables a speed boost and is more durable than a traditional spinning hard-disk drive -- it also reduces the amount of onboard storage.
If your favorite gift recipient wants a perfect combination of portability, power and packaging, you can't do better than these ultraslim, ultrasexy and -- fair warning -- somewhat pricy laptops. The machines we're recommending are available in both netbook-size 11.6-in. models and 13.3-in. models for those who need a bit more screen real estate.
When the Air debuted in January 2008, it was expensive, underpowered and jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Since then it has retained its good looks, come down in price and steadily packed more power into its thin but strong unibody aluminum frame.
Starting at $999, the Air comes in four basic models: The two 11.6-in. versions offer 64GB and 128GB of storage, respectively, while the two 13.3-in. versions are available with 128GB or 256GB of storage. In all cases, that's onboard flash storage mounted directly to the logic board, which is noticeably speedier and more energy-efficient than an HDD.
The current generation of Airs retains the striking "wedge" design oflast year's models, tapering from 0.68 in. down to just 0.11 in. at the thinnest point. Also carried over are the sharp, high-resolution display (1366 x 768 native resolution on the 11-in. models and 1440 x 900 on the 13-in. models); large, glass-coated trackpad; full-size chiclet keyboard; 802.11n Wi-Fi support; FaceTime webcam; SD card slot (13-in. models only); dual USB 2.0 ports; and headphone and microphone jacks.
At 2.4 lb. for the smaller models and just under 3 lb. for the larger, the new Airs are about an ounce heavier than before. Although Apple claims the same battery life as its previous models (up to 5 hours for the 11-in. and up to 7 hours for the 13-in.),Macworld actually founda slight improvement over last year's models during its rigorous battery tests.
There have been some big improvements as well, including the inclusion of 4GB of RAM on all but the entry-level 11-in. model (if you opt for that one, we advise bumping up the RAM to 4GB); a high-speedThunderbolt port(which is backward-compatible with older Mini DisplayPort cables); Bluetooth 4.0 support and backlighting on the keyboard. The most notable upgrade is the addition of Intel's ultra-low-voltage "Sandy Bridge" CPUs, which provide a significant performance boost. In his review of the entry-level 13-in. Air, Computerworld's Mac editor Ken Mingis notes that it scored 5,452 on theGeekbenchbenchmarking app, up from a score of 2,678 for the equivalent model from 2010. He writes:
The upshot: The Air is no longer a stylish but underpowered laptop. You can have your cake (a lightweight laptop) and eat it too (with speeds in the same ballpark as low-end MacBook Pro models). (Read the full review.)
The 11-in. Airs come with a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, while the 13-in. models include a dual-core 1.7GHz Core i5. All models can be configured with a 1.8GHz Intel Core i7, but Mingis believes that many people won't notice the difference in everyday use. For most users, he says, the sweet spot will be the $1,299 13-in. model with 1.7GHz Core i5, 4GB RAM and 128GB storage.
The new MacBook Airs also benefit from Apple's latest operating system,OS X Lion. Mingis notes that although he's always preferred larger screens, Lion's expanded trackpad gestures and support for full-screen apps make it so easy to navigate among multiple screens on the Air that the small display feels "practically expansive."
The Air defined the ultrathin notebook category nearly four years ago, and with continuous smart improvements in the meantime, it is still the slim and stylish laptop to beat.
-- Valerie Potter
MacBook Air from Apple Inc.
Street price: $940 - $1,018 (64GB 11.6-in.), $1,139 - $1,170 (128GB 11.6-in.), $1,235 - $1,400 (128GB 13.3-in.), $1,498 - $1,624 (256GB 13.3-in.), or configure at Apple site
Summary: Speedy Intel Sandy Bridge processors, a Thunderbolt port and OS X Lion keep the MacBook Air on top of the ultraslim heap.
Windows:Asus Zenbook UX21EandUX31E
In the world of ultraslim laptops, Windows machines have always played second fiddle to Apple's MacBook Air. But a new breed of thin and light computer called theUltrabook PCcould change that. Driven by Intel, which has invested $300 million toward their development, today's Ultrabooks use the latestSandy Bridge chipswith integrated Intel graphics, and most follow a few general guidelines (download PDF) such as being less than 0.8 in. thick, offering fast startup and wake times, and delivering 5 to 8 hours of battery life.
The current leader of the Ultrabook pack is the Asus Zenbook. With a unibody aluminum chassis, full-size chiclet keyboard and a sleek design that tapers from 0.8 in. thick at the back to 0.12 in. at the front edge, the Zenbook looks a lot like the MacBook Air. The Zenbook, however, really stands out with an eye-popping brushed-metal pattern.
The UX21E model, which starts at $999, offers an 11.6-in. display and weighs in at 2.4 lb. The entry-level version includes a 64GB SSD and a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5; the next level up is $1,199 for a 128GB SSD and 1.8GHz Core i7. Both offer 4GB of RAM and a 1366 x 768 native resolution.
The UX31E model weighs 2.9 lb. and offers a bright, crisp 13.3-in. display with 1600 x 900 native resolution, something not often seen in a 13-in. laptop. It comes in three configurations, all with 4GB of RAM: $1,099 for a 128GB SSD and a dual-core 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, $1,349 for 256GB SSD and the same Core i5 processor; and $1,499 for a 256GB SSD and 1.8GHz Core i7 processor.
How does all that hardware stack up? Very well: The UX31E beat out several larger ultraportables inPC World's performance tests. The Zenbook also performs well in multimedia playback, and its Bang & Olufsen ICEpower speakers provide excellent sound. And as Computerworld reviewer Brian Nadel notes:
The Zenbook has another ace up its sleeve: its Power4Gear Hybrid software lets you tune the system's performance and battery life to suit what you need it to do. There are four settings, including High Performance, Entertainment, Quiet Office and Battery Saving, but you can tweak them further by changing individual settings. (Read the full review.)
Even in Battery Saving mode, however, Nadel found that the Zenbook lasted only around 4 hours in his admittedly rigorous battery tests. Some reviewers have also noted problems with the Zenbook's touchpad, but a driver update seems to have solved most of those problems. (Still, it might not be a bad idea to throw in a mouse.)
All Zenbook models come with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and support Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi. There's also one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, one audio in/out, one Micro HDMI and one mini-VGA port, as well as an SD card reader on the UX31E only.
If your giftee prefers Windows machines to Macs, the Zenbook offers a sleek, stylish alternative. And although the 11-in. Apple and Asus models cost about the same, the 13-in. Zenbook UX31E starts at $200 less than the very similar 13-in. MacBook Air.
You might also like: Looking for something even snazzier? Consider the11.6-in.or13.3-in. Samsung Series 9 laptop, which offers over-the-top styling in a striking curvy enclosure made from a space-age aluminum alloy called Duralumin. But be warned: Starting at $1,199 for the 11-in. model and $1,649 for the 13-in., it'll cost you.
If you're on a tight budget, take a look at the 11.6-in.HP Pavilion dm1z. Weighing a relatively heavy 3.5 lb. and equipped with an HDD rather than flash storage, it's not in the same class as the rest of these machines, but it starts at just $380 andruns circles around netbooksof the same size.
-- Valerie Potter
Zenbook UX21E and Zenbook UX31E from ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Street price: $965 - $1,205 (UX21E with Core i5), $1,150 - $1,390 (UX21E with Core i7),
$1,062 - $1,137 (UX31E with Core i5), $1,398 - $1,674 (UX31E with Core i7)
Summary: With a gorgeous brushed-aluminum exterior, solid performance and a few nice extras such as Bang & Olufsen speakers, the Asus Zenbook is a compelling ultraslim option.
All-purpose performers
如果你giftee需要一个笔记本电脑更大的屏幕and more power -- not to mention an optical drive -- but that's still not too heavy to carry around, a midsize all-purpose laptop is your best bet. We like 14- and 15-in. models for their balance of viewability and portability.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems to be Apple's mantra for the design of its MacBook Pro line, which has remained the same for several years now. That's not a bad thing -- clean lines and a strong unibody construction have long been hallmarks of the series, as have a slender profile (less than an inch thick), an expansive multitouch glass trackpad and a backlit chiclet keyboard. And the 1440 x 900 LED-backlit display on the 15.4-in. MacBook Pro is as crisp, bright and gorgeous as ever.
But inside the aluminum chassis, Apple has quietly added several key improvements, most notably Intel's second-generation Core i-series processors, built on the Sandy Bridge architecture. In the 15-inch models, that means the latest quad-core Core i7 CPUs at basic clock speeds of 2.2, 2.4 or 2.5GHz and Turbo Boost speeds of up to 3.5GHz.
《计算机世界》的Ken Mingis explains, however, there's more to Sandy Bridge processors than clock speeds:
The biggest advance is that everything is integrated in one place: the processor itself, the Intel integrated graphics, the memory controller and cache. That allows the sum to work faster than the parts. And Intel's Hyper-Threading technology adds even more speed: It allows two threads of work to run at the same time across four cores, essentially giving you four real processor cores and four virtual processor cores. (Read the full review.)
The entry-level 15-in. model is $1,799 and includes a 500GB, 5400rpm HDD; a 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor; 4GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 6750M GPU with 512MB of memory. The higher-end model starts at $2,199 for a 750GB, 5400rpm HDD; 2.4GHz quad-core Core i7 CPU; 4GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 6770M GPU with 1GB of memory.
这些专用的Radeon图形处理器,在tensive graphics work, are in addition to the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 subsystem, which handles most tasks and uses less energy. You don't need to switch between the integrated and dedicated graphics; the system knows what's needed and switches automatically.
You can upgrade the RAM on either model to 8GB and the storage to a 750GB, 7200rpm HDD or a 128GB, 256GB or 512GB SSD, and the higher-end model can be upgraded with a 2.5GHz quad-core Core i7 processor. Be careful, though: Opting for the highest level of all these upgrades brings the price up to a shocking $3,749.
The 15-in. MacBook Pro, which tips the scales at 5.6 lb., includes a new webcam that records at 720p HD and works with Apple's FaceTime app for Mac, which means you can video-chat with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners running FaceTime as well.
Also new is a high-speedThunderbolt portin place of the Mini DisplayPort. The other ports and connectors are slightly skimpy for an all-purpose machine: two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, an Ethernet port, audio in, audio out and an SD card slot. There's an 8x slot-loading SuperDrive for optical discs, but no Blu-ray support. For battery life, expect a reasonable 5 to 6 hours for everyday tasks.
All of this adds up to a powerhouse laptop that can easily handle a variety of computing tasks at home, in the office and on the road.